God dried up the Red Sea before them: Good News Translation has “their god dried up the Red Sea in front of them,” but in connection with its restructuring of 5.12b, this appears to say that it was the Egyptian god who dried up the Red Sea. It would be clearer to say “The God of these Israelites dried up….” In some languages the concept of dried up will be difficult to translate. In such cases we may follow Contemporary English Version with “The God of the Israelites then caused the Red Sea to open up, and the people walked safely through on dry land.” The Red Sea is the body of water lying between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Judith. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.